Good but fairly typical late '80's Dead with a few bright spots. The setlist is strong, eschewing all their worst post-seventies' tunes. Jerry's voice is awful, though it would get worse over the years so I suppose that by the standards of the late '80's it could be worse. His playing however is fiery and energized, as is the whole band's. Perhaps sensing that his voice was totally shot that night Jer does inject a lot of spirit and passion into his singing, though unfortunately it only underscores how ragged his vocals were on this night - they just don't sound very good. The Desolation Row is one of the best I've heard with Bobby's vocals being particularly energetic and Jerry's guitar work sounding great. The second set jamming is fiery, but always abbreviated. In their prime they would have ridden the energy of the Scarlet->Fire for at least another ten minutes. Bobby hams it up on LLR and the fake thunder effects sound corny, though Jerry's playing is gorgeous. In their prime the LLR would have featured an extended Jerry solo, here it features an extended bout of Bobby's not-quite-cutting-it falsetto. The Eyes is pleasant, but really nothing to write home about. Same with the Bertha - it's energetic, but it's not really incredible...just a well-played Bertha in an unexpected slot in the show. An excellent Morning Dew and a surprisingly strong Desolation Row are probably the only serious reasons to give this one a listen, though Jerry's playing throughout is really strong.

I would call this weekend one of the top 10 experiences of my lifetime. The town the people, the groove, the light, the mountains...

The Morning Dew on here is sick!